1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to three dimensional image rendering and three dimensional image display in general and, in particular, to the rendering and display of stereoscopic images at various distances and degrees of roll to compensate for a viewer whose eyes are rotated with respect to a display. Further embodiments are directed to determining the degree of roll with which to display stereoscopic images when viewed by a plurality of viewers, where each viewer's eyes may have a different roll inclination with respect to the display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Three dimensional images are typically displayed to viewers through the process of stereoscopy, where a different perspective of an object or scene is presented to each eye of the viewer. This pair of stereoscopic images is seen by the eyes and combined in vision processing to create the illusion of depth. The general idea can be captured by the example of three dimensional glasses with red and blue lenses, where each lens filters out a respective color to present a different image to each eye, which results in the display of a three dimensional image. Autostereoscopic techniques exist to present different images to each eye without the use of glasses.
In prior art implementations, a pair of stereoscopic images displayed to the viewer are presented such that the images as viewed are horizontally adjacent and horizontally separated so as to create an illusion of depth when combined. This horizontal orientation of the images assumes that a viewer is facing the display without any degree of roll in the viewer's eyes with respect to the display, such as if a viewer were laying on their side. The horizontal spacing of the pair of stereoscopic images also remains constant, even if there is yaw rotation of the viewer's eyes.